GBP takes a dip while USD trumps

As has been the case for most of the week, there was little data from the UK to get excited about so the pound was very much left at the mercy of China’s devaluation fallout, along with fundamentals out from the other majors. GBP lost 0.4% against USD in yesterday’s trading to close just below 1.5400 for the first time this month. Continued speculation in both the US and UK is also fuelling fluctuation although, at the moment, there is little real data to work with so this is likely to be the case for some time to come. GBP’s problems were compounded by further losses against both Australasian dollars and CAD. It was only a small advance against the euro that stopped Thursday being pretty poor for the pound in general. Today is somewhat different for GBP in that we will see second estimate GDP figures out quarter-on-quarter; expected to come in at a gain of 0.7%.

On the European mainland, Germany’s import prices came in higher than expected, but yearly CPI numbers came in as expected which was a positive. Strong US GDP for Q2 did dent the euro’s day – resulting in a 1% drop against the dollar. In Greece, the once-troubled country welcomed in new Prime Minister, Vassiliki Thanou, the country’s first female PM, who will be in place until we see election takes place there at the end of next month.

Across the pond, yesterday belonged to the dollar. Data out revealed how the US economy grew faster in Q2 than was expected at 3.7% (as opposed to 3.2%). The flipside to the optimism was Fed member, William Dudley, stating that following China’s on-goings this week, the interest rate hike is somewhat on the backburner given the surrounding market uncertainty.